On April 21, 2020, musicians Ana Silvera and Francesca Ter-Berg released the track “La Serena” under the name “Yja,” Ladino for “daughter” (pronounced “ee-juh”). Their reimagining blended Ladino folk traditions with electronic sampling and jazz and klezmer influences to create a new sound for the folk song.

Silvera and Ter-Berg were both raised in London. They named Yja in honor of the women before them: “I like the idea that we’re daughters of the matriarchal line that we’re carrying,” said Silvera in a recorded conversation with Ter-Berg published on Facebook.

“La Serena,” which means “the mermaid,” is an old Ladino song about “love and heartache.” Over a wandering piano line, Silvera sings of sailors peering into the lone window on a tower in the middle of the sea. As the men try to glimpse the woman in this tower, the lyrics become increasingly psychedelic; the sea is made of milk, and little cinnamon boats bob through its waters. In an interview, Yja translated some of their Ladino lyrics into English: “Give me your hand, my dove, let me climb into your nest/you’ve been sleeping alone too long, let me sleep with you.”   

Yja recorded two other songs and planned a fourth for an EP, which they expected to tour the summer of 2020 prior to the Covid-19 lockdown. In a Zoom recording for the release of “La Serena,” Silvera and Ter-Berg discussed their desire to mix their “musical influences from outside that [Ladino] tradition.” Ter-Berg, a cellist and vocalist, has a klezmer background and also performs as one half of “Fran and Flora.” Silvera, whose great-grandparents come from Aleppo and Turkey, released the half-Ladino, half-Arabic “Songs We Carry” with Palestinian vocalist Saied Silbak. 

In an interview on Max Reinhardt’s Late Lunch released on April 24, 2020, Yja played a recording of “Lagrimas Veterei” (“true tears”), a song they learned from a 1940s recording of Sephardi singer Victoria Hazan. Neither artist spoke Ladino, so they listened to musicians like Hazan and Albert Beressi and checked their pronunciation with friends more familiar with the language. Yja’s “La Serena” keeps the vocal-heavy style of Hazan while reinterpreting it through layers of stacked vocal and instrumental recordings.

“La Serena” is available on Yja’s bandcamp and across streaming platforms.

Sources:

Judah, Jacob. “Breathing new life into ancient Sephardi songs,” The Jewish Chronicle, June 25, 2020. https://www.thejc.com/life/music/breathing-new-life-into-ancient-sephardi-songs-fyetrace.

“Music | Yja.” Bandcamp. Accessed September 18, 2025. https://yjamusic.bandcamp.com/.

Reinhardt, Max, host. Max Reinhardt’s Late Lunch. “Max Reinhardt's Late Lunch (24/04/2020)” Soho Radio, April 24, 2020. Podcast, 2 hours, 59 min., 35 sec. https://www.mixcloud.com/sohoradio/max-reinhardts-late-lunch-24042020/.

Silvera, Ana. “‘Songs We Carry.’” Facebook, February 28, 2023. https://www.facebook.com/AnaSilveraMusic/posts/pfbid02zKfB31Ld68QRJ94PHWsV5J5Pxc4cw7jqdr8j28qVmBhFPksbR8AayRWiudg6294Wl?rdid=nD9GLkq4UunQcGK1.

Silvera, Ana. “Yja Chat (Ana Sillvera [sic] & Francesca Ter-Berg).” Facebook, April 23, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GXThYbRY1/.